mount vernon whiskey

I am trying to find the history of the Mount Vernon distillery, producer of Mount Vernon Rye Whiskey. It was in business during the early 20th century. Can anyone provide a short history of the company, location of the distillery or any other facts?

Re: mount vernon whiskey

A have a little (very little, to be honest) information for you:
Mount Vernon was founded by George Washington (probably better known as president of the US) in 1797.
On the page http://www.whiskyportal.com/distille...tilleryID=1088 a little more information will come after December 7th (I am facing difficulties in updating right now :-( ) - sorry that I don't remember more without my notes.

Re: mount vernon whiskey

Hi Dennis, glad to see you made it. Thanks for joining us.

Folks, Dennis is located in Denmark, where he runs an excellent website (http://www.whiskyportal.com/) providing links to a multitude of distilleries. He covers all kinds (you'd be amazed at the diversity -- how about Pakistan for example?) with a large section devoted to American whiskey. Welcome aboard, Dennis! Now let's see if we can get you out to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in September (hey, we had Heinz Taubenheim from Germany last year).

Re: mount vernon whiskey

Here is a press release from approx. 12/8.

"The distilled spirits industry raised a toast to George Washington last night (12/7)during a black-tie event at the Mount Vernon Estate to celebrate a $1.2 million donation to reconstruct our Founding Father's distillery.
"This is a unique opportunity for the spirits industry to join together with Mount Vernon to preserve and honor our rich, cultural history," said Dr. Peter H. Cressy, President and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS). "The distilled spirits suppliers, wholesalers and retailers are proud of this partnership to educate the public about a facet of our first president's life that not many know about -- George Washington, the distiller."
The donation to Mount Vernon will be used to support educational programs in addition to the authentic reconstruction of the distillery on its original foundation. Through these projects, visitors to Mount Vernon will be able to learn about Washington's entrepreneurial spirit as a successful farmer and distiller.
"George Washington led our country in so many ways, including his belief and constant encouragement to others that beverage alcohol should only be enjoyed responsibly," said Cressy. "Our industry always has and will continue to carry on this longstanding tradition."
In an effort to enhance the authenticity of the original distillery, the Smithsonian Institution plans to loan one of George Washington's original copper stills to Mount Vernon. This original still will be on view and used as a model for the four replicas in the reconstructed distillery.
"Through this unique partnership with the Distilled Spirits Council, Mount Vernon will be able to raise awareness for Washington's belief in moderation and responsibility as we rebuild his distillery," said Jim Rees, Executive Director at Mount Vernon. "Our educational programs will discuss how Washington considered liquor as 'essential to the health of the Men' during the Revolutionary War while he was equally aware of the dangers of abusing liquor. His message of responsibility is clearly echoed by the distilled spirits industry."
Upon completion of the reconstructed distillery, expected in five years, Mount Vernon will be the only historic site in the nation capable of showing the distillation process from crop to finished product. Visitors who tour the distillery will have an opportunity to learn about the centuries-old process through demonstrations and hands-on activities.
"The responsible consumption of distilled spirits was a part of George Washington's everyday life and, today, remains part of the lifestyle of more than 100 million American adults," said Cressy.
At the time of its construction in 1798, the distillery was considered one of the largest whiskey distilleries in America. In 1799, Washington produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey, yielding a profit of $7,500. Washington's death in that same year halted the brief success of the distillery, and within a decade, the building fell into disrepair. Many stones were removed for use in other local construction projects during the 19th century.
DISCUS is the national trade association representing producers and marketers of distilled spirits sold in the United States. "

Re: mount vernon whiskey

Thanks, Greg. Now that's some interesting news. And exciting, too; it's not often you hear about a venture to provide legitimacy to the rich history of distilling in the United States. I'll bet ol' Carrie Nation's just spinning in her grave over this :-))

It's important that we understand and glorify the things our Founding Fathers did, like distilling whiskey, because only in that way will we come to realize the good in them today. Of course, we should probably not mess around with the fact that Georgie was also a slave owner (and dealer, on a small scale); we don't want to glorify that too much. And I'll bet no one will be raising funds to rebuild the hemp fields. Mount Vernon records show that George was concerned with the proper separation of male and female hemp plants as they grew. Such attention to detail doesn't matter much to rope production, but many of us children of the sixties and seventies understand that ol Georgie knew a few things about hemp that will probably not earn a black-tie fundraiser anytime soon.

It's heartening to know that my grandchildren and their grandchildren will at last be able to visit "...the only historic site in the nation capable of showing the distillation process from crop to finished product." Until now, all they could do would have been to visit the National Historical Register Site at Maker's Mark, stopping off on the way to peek at few local cornfields and see wheat grow at the Sisters of Loretto first.

I do kind of wonder just who DISCUS is, and why they are so concerned about making the world aware of our first president's rye whiskey production. Whiskey (in moderation, of course) was certainly important in the 1790's, and quite profitable as well, as pointed out in the press release. Especially, I suppose, after all that pesky competition had been eliminated out there in western Pennsylvania. It's always nice to have 12,000 federal troops at your disposal (more, I'm told, than was required to win the revolution!). I had long heard that Washington was a distiller of rye whiskey, but I never realized before that the distillery was built in 1799, five years AFTER the end of the whiskey rebellion, and that it only operated for a single year. That hardly qualifies George as a "whiskey man" in the same sense as, say, Jimmy Russell or Lincoln Henderson. But at least he was moderate and responsible about it :-))

Re: mount vernon whiskey

I didn't introduce myself when I queried about the 20th-century Mount Vernon Rye but I am Esther White, the director of archaeology at Historic Mount Vernon and one of the researchers working on the project to reconstruct George Washington's Mount Vernon distillery.

First, the Mount Vernon Rye is NOT related to George Washington's distillery. Since I posted my initial question I've discovered an article "Maryland Rye: A Whiskey the Nation Long Fancied--But Now Has Let Vanish" by James H. Bready in the "Maryland Historical Magazine" Vol. 85, No. 4, winter 1990. This was the commercial Mount Vernon Rye begun by Edwin A. Clabaugh and George U. Graff of Baltimore and sold in 1873 to Henry S. Hannis of Philadelphia. Hannis sold the brand to Cook and Bernheimer a New York wholesaler. This left George W. Torrey of Boston feeling jilted and he began a rival Mt. Vernon Rye. (The distinction being Mt. and Mount.) These ryes, like most, weren't able to grab market share after prohibition and ended production by the mid-twentieth century.

We at Mount Vernon, as the press release stated, are committed to researching, reconstructing, and interpreting Washington's distillery originally constructed in 1797. During the next two years the buildings foundation will be uncovered by a team of archaeologists while the numerous documentary sources are being studied. Washington's distillery began in 1797 and operated until 1808, although Washington himself died in 1799. Washington actually knew little about the process of distilling grains and it was his farm manager, a Scotsman, James Anderson, that convinced George to fund the distillery. We think Mr. Anderson, the mastermind behind the project, was the real "whiskey man". We feel confident that the process to learn more about the history of 18th century distilling will be both enlightening and interesting. Whiskey Magazine will publish an article about the commencement of the project early next year.

As the story says, the project is being funded by DISCUS (Distilled Spirits Council of the US), the lobbying organization of the spirits industry. They have agreed to fund the research and reconstruction as part of their educational and historical interests. Brown-Foreman, spurred by their own successful Labrot and Graham distillery, is one of the lead supporters of the project.

We welcome comments and queries about the project and look forward to communicating more with this forum as the research progresses.

Re: mount vernon whiskey

Esther, sorry to have replied to your post with your own press release but I do find that humorous. Perhaps it shows you that we in the forum at least try to stay on top of the latest news.

I admit I had this strong feeling when I posted the release that you were looking for a different product than our first President's since you stated the firm was in business much later. I am awash in academic responsibility right now (on top of some writing) so did not do any in depth search. I'm glad you found a source. I had a similar quest finding the source for a bottle (empty) that I made part of my collection which was a long defunct but historically important distillery here in Indiana and it took me quite awhile to amass information. You mention Maryland, Philadelphia, (a NY wholesaler) and a rival in Boston. Where were these rye's distilled, do you know?

I hope you will keep us in tune with your progress. I'd love to know.

You'll find author Chas. Cowdery and historian Mike Veach here as well as others who follow the current industry so we may be a source of information.

Re: mount vernon whiskey

Hi Esther, and welcome to the Discussion Forum at StraightBourbon.Com, an online institution of knowledge exchange, also sometimes known as the Bourbon Pit. I hope you'll excuse my lighthearted take on the press release in particular, and the "Washington, our country's first distiller" legend in general. I've always found it so amusing that EVERY history of bourbon (and probably every other American liquor as well) can be counted on to reinforce the same urban legend that George Washington was a well-known and successful distiller, as if that were somehow needed to bring legitimacy to a presumed otherwise tawdry endeavor. Even though I've always made fun of using our first president to endorse beverage alcohol production, I never before realized that even THAT was made up! Next, I suppose you'll be telling me he never slept at the Palm Springs Hilton hotel, either :-))

Regardless of whether or not George Washington MADE rye whiskey at Mount Vernon, I feel certain that he, and many others, drank plenty of it. And as the factual historic records and artifacts of that era are uncovered, we will all be able to benefit from your learnings. Even those of us who have no stake in maintaining the illusion of a Washington/Distiller relationship. The history of the United States is one of the greatest attractions bourbon holds for many of us hobbyists, and you're about to uncover (literally) a whole bunch of stuff that will be exciting to hear about. Please be sure to visit us often and keep us posted. For example, even if George didn't make rye whiskey, he grew rye grain -- which means he had it milled and probably had some made into whiskey. Did he sell that? We have well-known and highly honored "whiskey men" today who don't actually "make" their product nor own a still. No one would ever doubt their legitimacy. Perhaps George fell into this category before he actually built his own production plant.

I'm also glad to read your confirmation that the DISCUS group (which, I gather, includes Brown-Forman) is funding the project. Are they the sole contributors, or are there others? Mainly what I'd like to know is, is any funding of this project coming from federal or state tax dollars?